A local surf and kayak shop put a hold on rentals because of rain and hazardous conditions impacting areas along the coast.
Bill Bookout, the owner of Pismo Beach Surf Shop, Bike, and Surrey Rentals has had to shut down a few of his rental shops in San Luis Obispo County due to the recent rainfall.
He told KSBY News there is no purpose in keeping the business open when customers are not planning to be outside.
“Any time it rains, I have to shut down,” said Bookout. “There's no sense and no customers are coming in when it rains.”
Tom Reilly, the owner of Central Coast Kayaks, says he has focused on sales and repairing equipment for his clients since the rain has affected his services.
“With the rain, we can't get outside, so we just kind of have to wait and hunker down to do the activities, but we also do sales and repairs,” said Reilly. “We're doing a lot of repairs on people getting ready with their equipment for the springtime.”
With the high surf from this recent storm, Bookout says the hazardous conditions prompted him to pause renting any surf equipment.
“I would not do a surf rental here just because it's not safe. I looked at the ocean out here this morning. I looked at it just a little ago. I would not feel right about renting a surfboard to anyone out there.
Reilly says he’s learned to manage his kayak rental services around ocean conditions.
“In the wintertime and early spring, we expect large waves,” said Reilly. “That's just how Mother Nature works. As we get into springtime, we expect the strong winds, but we have to plan around it and we need to get on the water when we can and it is more of watching the news the night before and plan the day accordingly.”
Luckily, as the rain came to a halt on Monday, Bookout reopened his rental shop in Avila Beach for some clients who were looking to get outdoors.
“Any time we have sunshine, fair weather, people want to get out and do fun stuff,” said Bookout. “I've got five electric scooters rented out here in Avila right now and they're just running around town having a good time.”
To find out when surf and kayak equipment will be available, contact your local surf and kayak rental shops for further information.
